For the Hoang Tan Bui family, this Thanksgiving was the first since the Vietnamese American (who was of mixed caucasian-Vietnamese heritage) was killed during Tet (February) 2005 by the police officer.
The officer who ran his cruiser over him, pinning Mr. Bui to lie bleeding to death on a dark and cold Westminster street was only recently fired by the Westminster Police Department, months after the incident.
On the next Subversity show, we chat with Phuong, the window of Mr. Bui, and mother of a young boy and his older sister, left fatherless by the policeman's actions. We ask her to talk about her loss and what Mr. Bui meant to her and the family. We also ask her why the family turned down a settlement offer from the police and what she hopes to achieve in her civil case against the Westminster police department, now slowly dragging through the legal system. What are the questions that remain unanswered that a court case can uncover?
The case has aroused the Vietnamese community in Little Saigon, which has held numerous heated community meetings with city officials and a police spokesman; while area activists, including students from UCI and other area colleges, have marched on the police department to express their outrage.
The show airs at 9 am Monday, November 28, 2005 on KUCI, 88.9 fm in Orange County, and is webcast at the same time via kuci.org. To join in our conversation, call 949 824 5824 during the show.
See Trinh Luu's article, "The Hoang Tan Bui case: What are they not telling us?" in the current (No. 7) edition of Jaded, a UCI alternative Asian Pacific American magazine, p.7: pdf. The piece was written right before the policeman's firing was announced.
dan
Daniel C. Tsang Host, Subversity "What's behind and beyond the Orange Curtain" Mondays 9-10 a.m. on 88.9 fm, kuci.org http://kuci.org/~dtsang E-mail: subversity@kuci.org Daniel Tsang, KUCI, PO Box 4362, Irvine CA 92616, USA Member, National Writers' Union, http://www.nwu.org NWU is the nation's only labor union for freelancers Member, UC-AFT Local 2226 at UC Irvine